With the rise of cloud-based data management solutions, the information technology industry’s landscape has been dramatically altered. Some say this isn’t necessarily the best thing for IT, though. The big worry is that traditional processes will be automated so much in the cloud that these formerly crucial IT positions will all but disappear. There are plenty of solid arguments on both sides of this debate, but the questions still beg to be asked, how will jobs be affected by the cloud takeover, and should every company adopt cloud-powered infrastructure? The answers to these questions will undoubtedly inform how the IT industry will shift in the years to come.
Cloud Computing & Systems Administrators
It’s important to understand how cloud technology will affect IT systems from an administrator perspective. If you can answer this, you can make more educated decisions relating to full-scale cloud adoption. The reality is that cloud technology will not affect systems administrator positions negatively, but it will evolve them. Their responsibilities will begin to shift to focus on more cloud-centric responsibilities. This is the outlook for most of the cloud industry. IT pros will need to be well versed in cloud systems, business analysis and cloud app engineering and deployment. Companies will no longer look for specialists, but rather the new systems administrators will be jacks-of-all-clouds of sorts.
Pros & Cons of Cloud Adoption
Pros
Cost Reduction – Cloud computing reduces the amount of paperwork involved in IT. Since you don’t have to buy your own hardware, purchasing budgets are significantly reduced. In some cases, which is bad for the IT industry, companies can reduce their own IT staff.
Scalability – Cloud services allow you to pay for only what you use. This means that as your organization grows or shrinks, you can expand or reduce cloud services easily.
Seamless Collaboration – Cloud services can be accessed any time, anywhere and from multiple devices. This allows IT professionals to work together on projects regardless of geographical location.
Cons
Availability – There’s always the concern that certain cloud-powered servers are not reliable. What happens when a major server goes down? Does your service go down with it? These are important questions to explore as you consider full-scale cloud adoption.
Data ownership – Another big concern is with data ownership. The question is whether or not you can recoup all of your data once you terminate a service agreement with a cloud service provider.
Privacy/Security – Security is easily the most pressing issue with cloud skeptics. Are cloud companies collecting your data for their own use? Are cloud servers robust enough to handle large-scale security breaches?
Not Every Company should Use Cloud Tech
For data-heavy companies, cloud computing seems like a godsend. The truth is that there is a high demand for powerful cloud-based storage solutions, but the resources to house and manage big data is still lacking. With the cost of flash storage coming down it’s not hard to imagine that many companies will ditch the cloud in favor of in-house storage systems. If companies could house and manage sophisticated data sets quickly and efficiently with flash storage would they? The answer seems to be a resounding, yes!